I did my first parkrun in 2 years on Sat in Newport. Not the quickest course and it involved some awkward overtaking on lap 2, including a section of walking past people on a narrow bridge. My watch said 16.59.7 but of course the results say 17.00 Ran the whole thing on my own and was 90 secs clear of second so I'd like to get on a fast course with a competitive field. Want to dip under 16.30 this summer, with 16.20 a stretch target.

Been doing 1-2 speed sessions a week and the rest has been very easy paced plodding. The speed sessions are generally something like 12x400, 7x800 or 5x1000, with 90-120 secs recovery.

I did my first parkrun in 2 years on Sat in Newport. Not the quickest course and it involved some awkward overtaking on lap 2, including a section of walking past people on a narrow bridge. My watch said 16.59.7 but of course the results say 17.00 Ran the whole thing on my own and was 90 secs clear of second so I'd like to get on a fast course with a competitive field. Want to dip under 16.30 this summer, with 16.20 a stretch target.

Been doing 1-2 speed sessions a week and the rest has been very easy paced plodding. The speed sessions are generally something like 12x400, 7x800 or 5x1000, with 90-120 secs recovery.

Nice Grifter. I'm back on a 5k quest for a bit now too... pb of 17.58 to try and beat. Not sure I'm there just yet but I do similar sessions to you ... 6x1k off 90s has always been a staple. I'm recovering from VLM at the moment but hope to TT at Parkrun next week to get an idea. I think I'm in about 18.30 shape although my marathon result would suggest somewhat slower

I did my first parkrun in 2 years on Sat in Newport. Not the quickest course and it involved some awkward overtaking on lap 2

Pretty normal for Parkrun, many are now so popular and crowded that awkward overtaking is the norm. There have been some unpleasant incidents where faster and slower runners have had disagreements. Personally I am really pleased that Parkrun is becoming so popular. Since I just do it for fun, awkward overtaking is just part of the challenge on the day

Well done on your time, 17mins is pretty impressive, I hope to be close one day

Things didn't go quite so well today. I decided to try a new technique at Parkrun - go off way to fast and see what happens.

So I set off at a sub 19min pace - felt really strong for first km, slowed a little but still feeling good for km 2 to km 4 - looking like 19m to 19:10 was going to happen..... then right at the start of km 5 I had nothing left, I still managed a sub 20m 5k (my second best ever result). Still I can see that sub 19 is going to happen, wait till next week

We've all done it......
Were as its not best stratergy for total time, your body will be better able to deal with that speed next time.
Were all different but all my best times came from negative splits.

Been doing a few 3Ks and 5Ks on the track of late, seem to be going OK at the moment. Most importantly no niggles so far touch wood.

What's been interesting is that most of them have been pretty tactical races with team points at stake, so I've found it quite fun to be running against people rather than for times (despite being pipped in the final 100m a couple of times!).

Did a 16:38 5K last night. Was on for something just under 17 until the guy behind me went long with 1K to go - managed to track him for a 3:02 final KM split but couldn't get past.

Hoping that I can get into a better quality field at some point, draft of someone and run for a time, feels like a PB (under 16:30) should be doable if I commit to the pain.

Eyeing up this meeting with some mates - might be of interest to those within striking distance of London on here?

I would love to get down to that mate, but sub 16 in a recognised 5k? Not a chance. Entry for the 10k is a piece of pish compared to that. Keen on the the 5000, but 10,000 on a track might be a bit much for me.

If/when the entries open up to a slightly easier time, even sub-17, could you let me know? I'm sure I'll forget to check